6cyl suspension questions

[nineball12]

I have a '95 318ti, access to a wrecked '95 m3, and i'm planning on doing the swap. My question being, i'd like to lower my car (it's stock height now), have a nice firm ride, and was wondering what i should do in terms of suspension. I was thinking making a set of koni/ground controls set up for a 6cyl ti, but that could get a bit costly. Also would a 6cyl z3 suspenion set-up work in a ti?

[1996 328ti]

Fck Ground Control. I have yet to hear of an installation that had no problems.
Not sure about fitting components for a Z3. I had H&R Race Springs and Koni adjustables. The car road like it was on rails and I could just get my fingers between the wheel and fender wheel. In fact, I need to reinstall those springs and get a new set of struts myself. I have run out of suspension with my +220K miles I have on the Konis and probably 140K on 323ti Sport Springs.

[windnsea00]

My Ground Control has had no problems 8k miles down the road and the install was super easy. Also I've had a few friends that have used GC with no issues.

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by windnsea00

My Ground Control has had no problems 8k miles down the road and the install was super easy. Also I've had a few friends that have used GC with no issues.

Must be a west coast thing then. The last few installs have involved wrong parts and people emailing photos of what they sent them. People have like the results. It's the parts and install that have been problems. YMMV.

[nineball12]

Did you buy the h&r's and koni's as a kit for the ti? or did you have to piece it together? Another thing, how different are the spring rates for a 4-cly vs. a 6-cyl? is it even that big of a difference?

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by nineball12

Did you buy the h&r's and koni's as a kit for the ti? or did you have to piece it together? Another thing, how different are the spring rates for a 4-cly vs. a 6-cyl? is it even that big of a difference?

The previous owner installed it. I removed them when I bought the car.
Difficult to drive on our roads.
Can't help you with spring rates. Sorry.

[nineball12]

So you don't know what the springs are from? but you had the 2.8 in your car at the time?

[windnsea00]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

Must be a west coast thing then. The last few installs have involved wrong parts and people emailing photos of what they sent them. People have like the results. It's the parts and install that have been problems. YMMV.

Ah ok, I have heard of GC having customer service issues but the equipment itself seems to be fine from my experience. I believe it's the same stuff TC Kline uses.

[nineball12]

So does anyone know if z3/z3m suspension works? From what i've heard the springs do, but i'm not too certian about the shocks. There's a guy selling a set of the exact springs and shocks that i want for cheap, but they are for a z3. It sounds like it should be the same though.

[Panzer_M]

you could use a 323ti setup with the S5X motor.

you would be ordering it from Europe, but it could take the setup and it would be easier than mixing and matching US stuff.

[weezer]

Originally Posted by nineball12

I have a '95 318ti, access to a wrecked '95 m3, and i'm planning on doing the swap. My question being, i'd like to lower my car (it's stock height now), have a nice firm ride, and was wondering what i should do in terms of suspension. I was thinking making a set of koni/ground controls set up for a 6cyl ti, but that could get a bit costly. Also would a 6cyl z3 suspenion set-up work in a ti?

If you're doing a S50 swap, you might as well install these:
and PM me about them......
Sorry don't mean to be off topic.

[windnsea00]

Originally Posted by nineball12

So does anyone know if z3/z3m suspension works? From what i've heard the springs do, but i'm not too certian about the shocks. There's a guy selling a set of the exact springs and shocks that i want for cheap, but they are for a z3. It sounds like it should be the same though.

Z3 has different wheelbase, different weight balance and is shorter...I would pass on that. New shocks aren't very expensive anyway.

[campaiar]

I don't know the exact spring rates, but here is some information from experience that might help.

I'm on a stock equivalent suspension, the shocks and springs were replaced just before I bought the car. I measured the fender height before and after my M50 swap, and the car sits almost an inch lower in the front than it did before.

The car isn't tracked (except for back and forth to work!) and the handling difference for me, isn't much. I can still take a highway interchange faster than anyone around me.

Honestly, I think the handling of the car changed more when I did my auto-to-manual trans swap. The auto trans weighs tons more than the manual gear box. I did this swap several months before I attempted the 6-cyl change. While the car was setup with the 4-cyl and manual trans the front end was really light.

With both swaps now complete, it feels close to what it did before I started. I tried to compare the springs on realoem, but part numbers are unavailable.

I don't know if that helps, but theres my experience.

Originally Posted by nineball12

Did you buy the h&r's and koni's as a kit for the ti? or did you have to piece it together? Another thing, how different are the spring rates for a 4-cly vs. a 6-cyl? is it even that big of a difference?

[pdxmotorhead]

Ground Control = Eibach as well.

We install a lot of their stuff and I havn't really had any problems.

Of course most of the cars I do are track cars and we don't buy kits....

Dave

[op'z318M]

IndianaTravis installed a z3 suspension in his Ti..

ref: http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8759